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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Zuppa di Finocchio - Creamy Fennel Soup

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I'm still able to buy fennel very cheaply. Last weekend I bought several large bulbs to try an idea I'd been mulling over. I wanted to make a creamy fennel soup that had an unmistakably anise flavor, but had the same grainy texture as a properly made potato soup. How hard could it be? I set to work and did the requisite dicing and slicing and had my pot on the stove in 30 minutes. In addition to fennel, the pot contain a large potato to help with thickening, some celery and, most importantly, finely ground caraway seeds to boost the anise flavor. I let the contents of the pot simmer for about an hour, then pureed the contents of the pot using an immersion blender. I thinned the soup with light cream, garnished it with fennel fronds and served it warm with seeded rye croutons. It was really good and I'll definitely be making it again. I gave it an Italian name to give it more panache. I thought some of you might enjoy the recipe. Here's how it's made.

45 comments
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Mary,Your innovation never fails to impress me. I'm still working on my cooking skills, so I'm not quite ready to experiment as much as you do. But I love coming to your site and finding all of these new and different creations. What a great way to enjoy fennel! Thank you for sharing!

A good reminder for me to hurry up and harvest my fennel. Although I don't like potatoes, my husband does and he loves a good bowl of hearty soup with homemade bread. This looks to be a recipe he will enjoy.My husband is the guy who bought our immersion blender~

Lovely, Mary. I just had roasted fennel last night. I adore it. Absolutely cannot wait to try your soup! How unusual...and the caraway seeds are a nice touch!You are the best. I know visiting your blog I will always come away inspired.

I have never prepared fennel in any way. Why not? I have no idea. This is going to be my self-imposed (and seemingly delicious) challenge very soon. And, my immersion blender (my very first) arrived in yesterday's mail. I feel like a novice in the kitchen right now.

I've never used fennel except as a seasoning...always been a little intimated by it. Now I have a great recipe to try and over come that intimidated feeling with! This looks so creamy and wonderful. Thanks for sharing, Mary!

I think that this sounds wonderful. I've only cooked with fennel once, and I really enjoyed the result. It seems that the fennel I purchased for that recipe was very expensive. I'll have to check the prices at this time of year, because I'd really like to make this!

I simply love fennel and I was talking just yesterday with a chef friend of mine about how underrated and underused it is... even if you're not a fan of aniseed it has a much warmer undertonethat works so well with fish and chicken... or even on it's own, softly braised. I think you've inspired me to do a fennel special on my blog next week!

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